Retribution
by Kittengrl39
Summary: This is a story about Blackfire's time in jail. She used to spend all her time thinking up plans for revenge. Then, something changed... Chapter 3 up!
1. Meditation

O.o Okay, this is weird... *holds up something small and furry that is trying to bite everything within reach* Anyone lose a plot bunny? Oh well... *puts the plot bunny down, which immediately starts gnawing on her ankle* Ow. Anyways, I just wanted to say that this isn't very typical for me. I'm more of an anime person. Please don't flame if I don't do a very good job on this. *to the plot bunny* Couldn't you have bitten someone else?  
  
Plot Bunny: *gnaws on Kitten's ankle*  
  
Me: -_-; I'll take that as a no.  
  
Disclaimer: O.o Does anybody do disclaimers here? Ah well, I don't own the Teen Titans.  
  
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Meditation  
  
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Blackfire sat on the hard, jail-issue bed and looked out at the stars. She smiled bitterly. At least she had gotten a room with a view. But then, they were more humane here on the Centauri moons. Some her previous prison stays had been quite unpleasant.  
  
It had been a long time before she could look at the stars without being reminded of her sister. Even now, she didn't like to think of Starfire. She'd learned long ago that you could go insane if you dwelled too long on one thing. However...  
  
She glanced at the door, outside of which there was a Centaurian guard. They had made her prison specially to hold her. It was impervious to all the starbolts she threw at it, and they'd posted a guard outside just in case. She sighed and lay down on her bed.   
  
That delayed her plans somewhat...  
  
...But it would not last for long.  
  
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So, how'd I do? If you liked it, review. Hey, that rhymed!  
  
*holds up rest of the story tantalizingly* I've got a lot more to tell, so please give me a reason to tell it. *looks down* And will someone get this plot bunny off my leg?  
  
Plot Bunny: Grrr... 


	2. Installation

So people actually like this? Huh. Guess I'll continue, then.  
  
Swt China: So glad you like it! Yes, Blackfire IS a cool character to write about. Since she only appeared in one episode and immediately got hauled off to jail, you can have a vengeful Blackfire, a repentant Blackfire, a strong Blackfire, an emotionally dependent Blackfire... many choices.  
  
Omegan Empress: Thank you! Good suggestion, but I have something a little different in mind for Blackfire... I'll keep your suggestion in mind, though.  
  
GreyFox-JenniferFoxe: ^_^; I know it was short, I just needed some time to work on it. O.O I'm not giving my plot bunny to anyone with an evil grin!  
  
Plot Bunny: Grrr...  
  
Me: _ Ow. On second thought...  
  
Plot Bunny: Meep! *goes and hides*  
  
Anyways, thanks for reviewing. Here's the next chapter...  
  
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Installation  
  
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Blackfire leaned against the wall, looking bored. This was a weekly occurence, as the Centaurians were experimenting with a new form of 'rehabilitation' - namely, sticking all the prisoners in a big room for four hours every week. It was their belief that 'contact with other entities will make the prisoners realize the depth of their own transgressions and lead to the prisoner being a better person when he/she/it is released.'  
  
Blackfire snorted. Yeah, right.  
  
She looked over at the others. There were several other aliens here, with humanoids being the exception, not the rule. A four-legged Nimh beast, with a collar that prevented it from mauling others, roved around growling. Two blob-like Protns were wrestling in a corner. Others were talking, roaming around, or looking as bored as herself. The few conversations she could hear were all related to weapons, escape strategies, and previous offenses.  
  
Blackfire smirked. Looked like their little 'plan' was backfiring.  
  
She stretched and sat down, ready to meditate, since there was nothing else to do. She had almost gotten her concentration when the door banged open.   
  
Everyone stopped, looking surprised. The time wasn't up yet. Why were they opening the door?  
  
Two guards came in with a prisoner held between them. "PRISONER DARIEN REFARA OF ALTAIR PRIME," they stated in a monotone, then threw the man down on the floor and left.  
  
He sat up, rubbing an elbow and grinning ruefully. "Well, I guess I can't expect a royal welcome."  
  
Blackfire checked him out in spite of herself. He was reasonably good-looking, with premature silver hair, light green eyes, and light brown skin, the color of what Earthlings called 'hot chocolate'. The man was wearing a gray t-shirt and the Altair version of 'blue jeans', which were a non-descript khaki color and made of something like canvas.  
  
Since nobody appeared to be interested in the newcomer, he shrugged and started walking around. He appeared to be heading in her direction.  
  
~No, no, no,~ Blackfire pleaded silently, but it was no use. The man - Darien, she reminded herself - sat down next to her, grinning amiably. "Hi. Who are you?"  
  
She sighed, dropped her concentration, and glared at Darien. "I WAS about to meditate. Who are you?"  
  
He grimaced. "Oops. Sorry. I'll go bother someone else." He got up and moved off into the crowd.  
  
Blackfire had second thoughts and called after him. "Wait!"  
  
He stopped, turning around. "What? Don't tell me I did something else wrong."  
  
"No, it's just that I might as well talk to you." She shrugged. "There's nothing else to do in this hellhole."  
  
Darien retraced his steps and sat down beside her. "I assume you don't think very much of this place?"  
  
She snorted. "Of course not. The people who run this place are idiots. They actually believe we can be 'rehabilitated' and let out into the world as 'safe, law-abiding citzens'." She grimaced. "How stupid can you get?"  
  
Darien grinned. "Well, it doesn't sound much different from any other jail I've heard about."  
  
Blackfire pounced on the expression. "You mean this is your first time?"  
  
"Yup." He leaned against the wall, eyes closed.  
  
She began to feel curious about the newcomer. "What did you do?"  
  
He opened one eye to look at her. "Do you really want to know?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then tell me what you did first."   
  
Blackfire began her tale of adventure and crime, encouraged by Darien, who was listening avidly to every word. Before either expected it, the guards called out, "INTERACTION TIME IS OVER. ALL PRISONERS WILL NOW BE ESCORTED BACK TO THEIR CELLS."  
  
Darien smiled ruefully at her. "I guess the rest of your story will have to wait until next week. Hope I didn't bother you too much."  
  
Blackfire smiled. "Are you kidding? You might not be much, but talking to you certainly helps pass the time."  
  
He smiled back at her as the two guards that were assigned to him took him to his cell.  
  
Her two guards also led her away. She sighed and resigned herself to another boring week.   
  
It wasn't till she was back in her cell that she realized...  
  
Darien had never told her what he had done.  
  
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A few hours later, she was startled from her sleep by the sound of her cell door being thrown open. In a scene exactly like the one in the interaction chamber, two guards came in, holding Darien between them. "PRISONER DARIEN REFARA OF ALTAIR PRIME WILL BE YOUR NEW CELLMATE," they announced, then threw Darien on the floor and left.  
  
He sat up, wincing. "I hope I won't have to get used to the throwing down all the time," he said, then looked up and spotted Blackfire. He brightened. "Hey, you're the girl from that room!"  
  
Amused, she swung down from the top bunk. "So why'd they stick you with me?"  
  
He smiled regretfully. "My previous cellmate decided that I was the right type to eat. The guards barely got him off me." He regarded her with mock fear. "You won't eat me, will you?"  
  
She laughed. Almost eaten or not, this man had a gift for making friends. "No, I won't. I still have to finish my story, remember?"  
  
"Oh yes, that's right," he said, sitting down on the bottom bunk. Then he looked up at her expectantly. "What's your name? I never asked you in that room."  
  
"Blackfire."  
  
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I'll just leave you guys there. Gives you something to look forward to, doesn't it? 


	3. Revelation

Back again!  
  
Sorry this took so long. I made the mistake of getting started on four other fics at the same time as this one. So I'll just finish this one up.  
  
I've actually gotten quite fond of the plot bunny. I think I'll name him `Fang'.  
  
Fang: ^_^ *gnaws on Kitten's ankle*  
  
Me: _ Ow... If he keeps this up, he'll chew off my left foot...  
  
silversilk: ^_^; Well, there's not much to say. It's a jail. Brown walls, boring decor, strong bars in the place of windows, doors built strong to keep all manner of monsters in or out - okay, so there IS something I can do with the setting...  
  
Omegan Empress: Sorry I took so stupidly long to continue! I promise, I'll make it up as soon as I can...  
  
pyrala0: Thank you. ^_^ Yes, she is.  
  
Raventhedarkgoddess: Glad to see I'm not the only one.  
  
Yolando Sung: Blackfire's just about my favorite, besides Terra. ^_^ Kawaii...  
  
Now, on to the fic!  
  
Disclaimer: I own exactly nothing.  
  
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Revelation  
  
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"... And then they brought me here," Blackfire finished. "You know the rest."  
  
"That's quite a story," Darien replied. He had somehow managed to both get himself up on the tiny ledge of the windowsill and actually make himself comfortable. His hands were beneath his chin in a characteristic listening expression. "So what do you want to do when you get out?"  
  
"Go after my sister, of course," Blackfire spat, the very memory making her angry. She swung her arms about in emphasis. "She betrayed me! She stuck me in here to grow old and die without ever seeing space again!"  
  
"Sounds to me more like you betrayed her," Darien said, dropping his hands and swinging one leg against the wall.  
  
"Yeah, well..."  
  
Blackfire sighed and flopped down on the lower bunk. "You wouldn't understand."  
  
"We're going to spend the next few years together," he pointed out. "And I WANT to understand. You might as well tell me now."  
  
Blackfire looked out past him to the stars. There was a long moment of silence before she spoke.  
  
"Do you know what I value more than anything else in the world?" She hesitated for a second, as if waiting for him to answer, then continued. "Freedom. When I was young -" She grimaced, her face twisting in a bitter smile. "- well, let's just say that I didn't get out much. I slipped away when I could, and when I did, I always went to the spaceport. That's the truest form of freedom I know. To be out there-" She sighed, in longing. "It's impossible to describe. When I was old enough, I ran away, stole a ship, and started my journey."  
  
Blackfire looked at Darien, her eyes shining with a passion that could not be named. "The feelings you get out there... do you know what it's like? To be in control of your own destiny? To do anything you want to do, when, where, and how you want to do it. And oh, the sense you get in deep space... flying..." She smiled. "That's what it's like. I should know. But it's different. With flying, there's a sense of accomplishment... you're so high up, high above the earth below, all under your own power. But in a spaceship? With all that power under your control, being able to go anywhere you want to go? Even places no mortal should be? THAT is freedom. THAT is what I live for."  
  
Her mood suddenly took a turn for the worse, and she snarled, her eyes now filled with a different emotion. Hate.   
  
"Then my bitch of a sister had to come along and ruin everything."  
  
"It still seems to me like you betrayed her," Darien offered. "If she hadn't turned you over to the police, it would be her sitting here right now."  
  
"But that's the whole point!" Blackfire exclaimed, then sighed. "I should calm down. You see..." She leaned over the edge of the bunk to speak to him better. "If Starfire had been the one taken, they would have found out soon enough that they made a mistake. The Titans themselves could vouch for the fact that she was on Earth the whole time, and nobody would be able to connect her to any of my crimes. She'd have been released within weeks, and in the time that they spent figuring that out, I could have been halfway across the galaxy with another ship. But no. She had to turn me in, like a good citizen."   
  
Blackfire snorted and sat back, her arms crossed over her chest. "So much for family loyalty. Now I'm stuck here. With a life sentence."   
  
She paused, and turned her head away - but not before Darien caught the glint of what might have been tears on an ordinary person.  
  
"Now I'll never be free again."  
  
There was silence for a moment, as Blackfire regained her composure. "So... now it's your turn."  
  
"Hmm?" Darien jerked his head up, apparently having been deeply in thought.  
  
"You need to tell me what you did," she pressed.  
  
Darien looked away. "No."  
  
"No?!" Blackfire shook her head in amazement. She hadn't expected such an outright denial. "Come on. I told you what I did, and why I did it, even when I didn't want to. You can at least repay the favor!"  
  
"A favor?" He laughed softly, with a trace of bitterness. "It would be no favor to tell you why I am here."  
  
Blackfire was about to goad him again when he spoke.  
  
"I killed a man, Blackfire."  
  
She snorted. "So? I've killed plenty of people!"  
  
He looked at her sharply. "Ever one of your own species?"  
  
She looked away, not meeting his eyes. "Once," she whispered, and offered nothing more than that.  
  
Darien sighed and turned his head back to stare at the wall. "Back on Altair, I was the son of a merchant. My mother had never been very healthy; she died when I was twelve. I grew up learning to take over the business from my father. I didn't want to. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do, and I'm still not. I just knew it wasn't that."  
  
"Unfortunately, my father was involved in some pretty dirty business. Interplanetary drugs can be very potent, and my father was trafficking in them. I didn't know of this - that is, until the locals had had enough and stormed our house."  
  
"They caught my father in the back and killed him. I saw them do it. Horrified, I fled, but someone saw me leaving and chased after me. I was finally cornered in an alley. Desperate, I turned on the man and choked him with my bare hands."  
  
He stared at his hands for a long moment before continuing. "I couldn't believe it. For several minutes after his death, I just stood there, staring at the body. I knew this man. I knew his wife and their two daughters. He was a baker, and used to give me free donuts when I ran errands for him. And I had just killed him." "So, I ran away again." He laughed bitterly. "They caught me the next day for stealing a loaf of bread."  
  
He swung his head around to look her in the eyes. "That's why I'm here. You told me the thing you valued most. Well, the thing I value the most is life. It's one of those things that you take for granted until it's lost. Everyone you kill, they have a past, and a family, and maybe they're not so bad. When I killed-" He took a deep breath. "When I killed, it was as though the both of us were rabid wolves. We would never have attacked each other otherwise. I understand that he was caught up in the mob-spirit, but I had no excuse to kill in order to save my own life."   
  
He looked away. "I never want to kill again."  
  
There was a long silence, one which Blackfire broke by saying, "So are you going to sleep on the windowsill, or would you rather have the top bunk?"  
  
He laughed. "I'll take the top bunk, please. Sleeping here would leave me very sore in the morning."  
  
He swung down from the window ledge and climbed up to the bunk. "Good night, Blackfire."  
  
"Good night, Darien."  
  
Soon, his deepened breathing told her that he was asleep. Blackfire envied him that luxury. With what he had just told her...  
  
She sighed and settled onto the hard, cold mattress. Darien had given her a lot to think about. Sleep would be slow in coming.  
  
If it came at all.  
  
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Phew! At least that's over.  
  
Look for the next chapter soon! 


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